In the culture of ancient Greece, dreams and their connection to prophetic concepts appeared in various literary works, including historical records, epic poetry, plays, and inscriptions at sacred sites. Prophetic dreams were of great importance to people of that time.
Ominous Dreams and Symbols
The sick person sleeping in the temple of Aesculapius hopes to meet the god in a dream.
In their works, ancient Greek scholars often distinguished between two types of dreams. The first type is ordinary, created by hopes, fears, and other lingering thoughts from the day.
The second type is significant and has three forms: Some are literal visions of the future; some relate to symbols that need to be decoded; others are visits from deities, spirits, or friends.
In Book 1 of Histories, the 5th-century BCE Greek historian Herodotus wrote about King Croesus of Lydia, who dreamed that his son died from a wound caused by a sharp object. Croesus took every precaution to keep his son away from weapons. However, he allowed the prince to go hunting, leading to the prince being accidentally killed by a guard’s spear.
Common in ancient Greek literature are dreams containing symbols that require interpretation. A prime example is Penelope’s dream in Homer’s Odyssey.
According to the tale, Penelope endured the presence of fifty suitors living in her home, depleting her wealth, while she patiently awaited the return of her husband, Odysseus, from war.
One day, in her dream, she saw fifty geese being killed by an eagle. This dream was not only prophetic, as Odysseus indeed killed the suitors, but it also held symbolic meaning: the fifty geese represented the fifty problematic suitors, while the eagle symbolized Odysseus.
Ancient literature often recounts instances where parents dreamed of destruction caused by their children. Herodotus provided an example of this when King Astyages dreamed that his daughter Mandane urinated, causing all of Asia to flood.
Later, he dreamed that she gave birth to a vine that overshadowed the entire continent. According to Persian magi, the dream implied that Mandane’s child would overthrow him. This indeed happened when Mandane’s son, Cyrus the Great, usurped his grandfather’s throne and became the king of Persia in the 6th century BCE.
When Hecuba, the queen of Troy, was pregnant with her son Paris, she dreamed of giving birth to a burning torch. A seer told Hecuba that her son would bring down the country. This came true when Paris’s actions instigated the famous Trojan War.
Similarly, Queen Clytemnestra of Sparta dreamed of giving birth and nursing a serpent shortly before being killed by her son Orestes. This type of symbolic dream became a common literary motif, reflecting the beliefs of those who believed in the prophetic qualities of dreams.
Artemidorus, a 2nd-century dream interpreter, left us a book on dream interpretation, explaining the meanings of dreams involving symbols such as snakes, crocodiles, hunting, agriculture, and war. Such books seemed to be quite popular in the ancient world.
The god disguised as Nestor, friend of King Agamemnon, appears in his dream.
Dreams of Encountering the Otherworld
The third type of significant dream relates to visits from a friend, family member, or deity, who converse with the dreamer. This visitor may sometimes be a disguised dream messenger sent by a god in various forms, depending on the god’s wishes.
For example, in Homer’s Iliad, the god Zeus guided a character to appear in King Agamemnon’s dream, disguised as Nestor, the king’s friend. The figure in Nestor’s form advised Agamemnon to lead his troops into battle against the Trojans.
Zeus’s aim was to destroy the Greek army. Meanwhile, in the Odyssey, Athena sent a dream figure to Penelope, appearing as her sister. This figure comforted Penelope and told her that her son would return after his journey.
Many centuries after these stories were written, the Roman poet Ovid continued to reference dream figures through his description of Ceyx and Alcyone. In this poem, Juno sent Morpheus, who could change form at will, to visit Alcyone in her sleep, disguised as her husband Ceyx.
In ancient Greek literature, dream visitors often appeared as spirits. For instance, Achilles dreamed of his deceased companion Patroclus visiting him, asking him to complete the burial rites so he could pass on to the afterlife. When Achilles tried to hold Patroclus back, he only touched smoke.
Items and possessions seen in a dream and discovered upon waking belonged solely to the realm of mythology. In a poem by the Greek poet Pindar, the hero Perseus was said to have obtained a golden bridle from a dream.
Aesculapius was an ancient Greek god renowned for his healing abilities. It is said that he visited his devotees in dreams, offering them medical advice, diagnoses, and even cures for their ailments.
Inscriptions at his worship sites serve as evidence of such dreams. The faithful hoped for an important dream to guide them or performed sleep rituals in sacred places. Some sanctuaries incorporated rooms specifically for this purpose.
